Albania's Mountain Queen: Edith Durham and the Balkans

Description

Whilst young ladies in the Victorian and Edwardian eras were expected to have many creative accomplishments, they were not expected to travel unaccompanied, and certainly not to the remote corners of Southeast Europe, then part of the crumbling Ottoman Empire. But Edith Durham was no ordinary lady. In 1900, at the age of 37, Durham set sail for the Balkans for the first time. Her trip was intended as a means of recovering from a period of ill-health, and as a break from the stifling monotony of caring for her ailing mother. Her experiences on this trip were to change the course of her life, kindling a profound love for the region which saw her return frequently in the following decades. She became a confidante of the King of Montenegro, ran a hospital in Macedonia and, following the outbreak of the First Balkan War in 1912, became one of the world's first female war correspondents. Back in England, she was renowned as an expert on the region, writing the highly successful book High Albania and, along with other aficionados such as the MP Aubrey Herbert, becoming an advocate for the people of the Balkans in British political life and society.
King Zog of Albania once said that before Durham visited the Balkans, Albania was but a geographical expression. By the time she left, he added, her championship of his compatriots' desire for freedom had helped add a new state to the map. Durham was tremendously popular in the region itself, earning her the affectionate title 'Queen of the Mountains' and an enduring legacy which continues unabated until this day. Yet she has been all but forgotten in the country of her birth. Marcus Tanner here tells the fascinating story of Durham's relationship with the Balkans, painting a vivid portrait of a remarkable, and sometimes formidable, woman, who was several decades ahead of her time.

About Author

Marcus Tanner is an author and journalist, specialising in Central and Eastern Europe. He was The Independent's Balkan correspondent from 1988 to 1994 and was subsequently Assistant Foreign Editor. He is the author of Croatia: A Nation Forged in War; The Raven King: Matthias Corvinus and the Fate of His Lost Library; The Last of the Celts; Ireland's Holy Wars: The Struggle for a Nation's Soul 1500-2000 and Ticket to Latvia: A Journey from Berlin to the Baltic.

Contents

Preface: `Balkan Tangle' ` The other end of nowhere' `My golden sisters of Macedonia' ` God sent you to save us' ` A fine old specimen' The Great Mountain Land ` They never all rise in a lump' `Boom - our big gun rang out' ` He is a Blighter' ` It has been a long journey' `Albanians will never forget' ` He is a Blighter' `It has been a long journey' ` Albanians will never forget'